From Deseret News archives:
Jazz feeling love from national media
ESPN.com, Sportsline.com, SportsIllustrated.com and Yahoo! Sports both have Utah atop their most-recent NBA power rankings, and Jazz players — who take their league-best 10-1 record to Sacramento tonight — seem convinced opponents are aiming to bring them down.
"Teams are going to be gunning for us," point guard Deron Williams said.
"They know they have to play their best game — and we're going to have to learn very fast that we're going to have to be on top of our game every night," guard Derek Fisher added. "When you start to kind of get that bull's-eye on your back, teams are going to — give their best effort."
Not everyone, however, gives the Jazz so much respect.
InsideHoops.com had them second behind San Antonio in its power rankings Tuesday, with this notation: "I doubt Utah will complain about being No. 2."
KIRILENKO, GIRICEK OUT: Both forward Andrei Kirilenko (sprained ankle) and shooting guard Gordan Giricek (Achillies tendinitis) traveled to Sacramento as expected, but the team said Tuesday neither will play tonight.
Kirilenko on Monday had said he might be good to go, but the Jazz apparently do not want to rush him.
Giricek, meanwhile, said he thinks he's close to returning from what so far has been a six-game absence.
"I think I am," he said. "I expect it to hurt a little when I start playing again, but I hope it calms down after a while."
COOL CAR, BAD BACK: Kings starting small forward Ron Artest did not practice Monday due to a sore back, but he did practice Tuesday and is expected to play tonight.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the source of Artest's pain is rather bizarre: "(He) has been driving his wife's Mercedes SL 500 back and forth from their house ... to Arco Arena. The Mercedes had been a gift from Artest to his wife, Kimsha, who decided the car wasn't her style. Thus, her 6-foot-7, 260-pound husband has been cramming his frame into the driver's seat, so much so that his back started giving him fits. The Mercedes is headed for the used-car market."
SNYDER OUT: Jazz 2004 first-round draft choice Kirk Snyder has been lost to the Houston Rockets because of a broken hand suffered while driving to the basket in Monday's game against New York.
Knicks center Jerome James fouled Snyder on the play, and according to the Houston Chronicle James "came down hard with a swing that broke a bone between Snyder's thumb and forefinger."
The Associated Press reported that the team said surgery has been performed to repair a spiral fracture of the second metacarpal bone.
Snyder — who was in Houston's regular rotation averaging 5.7 points — is expected to miss 8 to 10 weeks.
